


In Your Eyes

by Mx Felicia Rondo (SolarSys)



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (Video Games), Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Don't underestimate me I DO NOT know how long this fan-fic will be, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Getting to Know Each Other, M/M, Metamours to Lovers, Multi, Normalized Polyamory, Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net, Polyamory, Rouge and Sonic both have a bit of a thing with Shadow and it's NOT a big deal, Rouge has TRUST ISSUES, Sonic is JUST nice, acquaintances to friends
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-14
Updated: 2020-09-28
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:42:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26458894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SolarSys/pseuds/Mx%20Felicia%20Rondo
Summary: When Sonic goes to her asking about Shadow's whereabouts, Rouge decides to play a little game - how long can she make Sonic spend time with her before he hates her? To the shock of her and no one else, there's a lot to like—even love—about her. Even so, there's something hidden behind those shining emerald eyes of Sonic's, and she's just the treasure hunter to find it.
Relationships: Rouge the Bat/Shadow the Hedgehog, Rouge the Bat/Shadow the Hedgehog/Sonic the Hedgehog, Rouge the Bat/Sonic the Hedgehog, Shadow the Hedgehog/Sonic the Hedgehog
Comments: 11
Kudos: 38





	1. Chapter 1

With nothing but the sound of wind filling her ears, Rouge flew through the busy Westopolis night sky. She had quietly swiped a necklace or three earlier that day, but managed to keep out of trouble for it. "It's just jewelry," Rouge justified it, "the people who make these things are pretty well off." She didn't much care, but, as an agent of the U.S. Government, she felt like she must have some sort of 'off-record explanation' to give to her superiors if the news ever broke.

Then, penetrating the sound of wind in her ears, came the pitter-patter of sneakers running at supersonic speeds. Looking down, she saw a blue blur keeping up with her. "Oh, big blue, don't spoil my fun now..." Rouge said to herself, before flying faster and making an effort to lose the heroic hedgehog – no doubt arriving to put a stop to her thievery like the do-gooder he always was. She took as many turns and tried to stay out of sight of the hedgehog for as long as she could, but her cunning was no match for Sonic's speed this time around.

Landing gracefully on a rooftop, she was met with two emerald eyes shortly after Sonic had run up the building. "Hey, Rouge," Sonic smiled. Rouge privately wondered if the speedster had a single judgmental gaze in him, but kept it to herself, listening on to what she presumed would be a long-winded speech about how stealing is 'wrong' and ' _ gee why can't you just think about those poor rich people for once.' _ To her surprise, Sonic instead asked, "Have you seen Shadow around, lately?"

Eyes widened, Rouge was almost taken aback by the hedgehog ignoring the felony she had committed, so sure that he would take ultimate offense to it. "Why do you ask, handsome?" A mischievous look appeared in her gaze as a smirk grew on her lips, before she slyly teased, "You aren't hoping to get some kisses in with our friend, are you?"

Not batting an eye, Sonic teased back, "What if I  _ am? _ " Eliciting a chuckle from the bat before him, which caught on to the hedgehog as well. "I know you're closer to him than I am," admitted Sonic, as his chuckles died down, giving the bat pause, "I just wanted to know where I might find him. I get the feeling he could use having some more friends around, and if he'd like me to be part of that I'd love to... y'know, be there for him..." He knew it sounded corny, as did most of what he had to say, but he only had his honesty to give. "That's all, I guess..."

As the hedgehog spoke, Rouge thought of the two hedgehogs' friendship—how perhaps it would do the dark hedgehog good to have someone else around not solely interested in getting something out of him. In truth, she had lost track of him over the past week, expecting to see him again in the next recon mission G.U.N. had scheduled for them as Team Dark...  _ but, _ Rouge thought,  _ that didn't mean she couldn't have her fun with Sonic in the meantime. _ "Okay, big blue, I'll tell you," she told the hero, causing that goofy grin of his to appear on his face, but, before he could thank her, she added, "but I'll need you to prove I can trust you,  _ first. _ "

This, to Sonic, was very amusing. "Oh, so  _ you're _ having trouble trusting  _ me, _ huh?" chuckled Sonic, a look that almost betrayed his unassuming demeanor flashing in his eyes. The bat knew he was right not to trust her, as she was deliberately deceiving him at that very moment, but she couldn't resist acting ' _ harmed' _ by the hedgehog's apparent judgment on her—giving him a little pout, though it did little to change the hedgehog's mind. Crossing his arms, Sonic asked, "How do I know you aren't lying and just playing games with me?"

Giving the question a moment of thought, Rouge simply smiled back at the hedgehog and answered, "You don't." With a wink, she walked away from the hero, letting him believe she was going to leave it up to him to decide, while knowing full well she was playing him just as he suspected. Turning back around to face him after a handful of steps away, she gave him an expectant look, awaiting his response.

Uncharacteristically slowly, a smile grew on the hedgehog's face – a smile so bright and warm, it could melt the coldest ice cap. "Okay, I'll play," responded the hero, "how can I earn your trust, Rouge?"

It was funny, to the bat, how much the sapphire hedgehog smiled. Was there really so much for him to smile about, all the time, she wondered? She would soon find out, she supposed, before telling the hedgehog, "First, I want you to make some time tomorrow to spend with me. We hardly get the chance to, in between all the adventures—and it'd be easier to trust you if I knew you better, don't you think?"

Accepting her logic with a nod, Sonic replied, "Yeah, I guess so." Looking back at the late night sky, he told the bat, "So, 'guess I'll see you tomorrow, then." She could see the stars reflected in his eyes – eyes that greatly resembled the beauty of a precious emerald gem, which she always had a particular fondness for, among her other fascinations with all sorts of shiny things.

"Now hold on a minute, big blue," Rouge called the hedgehog's attention, for just one more last moment, "this is going to take a lot of patience, and you'll have to be seen with me—a  _ thief _ —quite a lot. Are you  _ sure _ you're going to be okay with that,  _ emerald eyes? _ "

With one last nigh-insufferable smirk of his, Sonic said, "What, you think I'm gonna get cold feet 'cause people might  _ say things _ about me hangin' out with a lady like you?" Walking towards her until they were barely a foot away from one another, Rouge saw something new in Sonic's emerald gaze as he simply stated, "We hardly know each other, Rouge, let's not get too caught up in assumptions before we start. In point of fact, as much as it may surprise you, I really  _ don't _ care about what people think of me—even if it means they start thinking I'm some kind of bad guy. I wouldn't make it too far as a hero if I worried about that, don't you think?" With that, he began to step away, giving her a thumbs-up before running off of the rooftop and into the night.

Maybe she was surprised. Maybe she was in for a good stretch of surprises until the next time G.U.N. called on Team Dark. Rouge could only smile as she took flight once more, flying off to her hideaway to put away the recently-stolen jewelry in her possession, meaning to swap it out with some shiny things she had stolen in the month before. She allowed herself to laugh a little, imagining him wandering aimlessly, searching for her the following day. "What a fool..." she thought, "he forgot to ask for my number."

She was in for an interesting time, she knew. She could count on Sonic to give her that much.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a rude awakening, Rouge decides this first day of 'getting to know' Sonic would be absolutely miserable for Sonic! Unfortunately for her (or is it...?), she underestimates how much fun you can have with that weird blue cat we call Sonic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi this is the last chapter that got posted on FanFiction.net. Surprise! It wasn't finished. I started work on the next chapter after MONTHS, maybe YEEEEARS, of no progress. I feel good about the chances of this story getting a new chapter after all of this time, and in any case I'm just posting on this website now and I'd like my work to be archived on an A of my three.
> 
> Yeah, that's a good notes for my chapter... That won't make my readers think I'm weird or anything...

Footsteps, wind, talking – these were things Rouge had learned to tune out when she'd go to sleep, discreetly hanging from a tree at the edge of a park. Now, when she would hear the sound of two sneakers speeding around over and over, near and far,  _ that's _ what would stir her awake. She groggily unwrapped herself from her wing-blankets and opened her eyes, peaking through the leaves of the tree she had slept in to see a blue streak speed through what must have been all of Westopolis.

Letting out a sigh, she could only guess that he had spent all morning searching for her. “ _ I suppose I don't have to worry about him flaking out on me, _ ” she chuckled to herself, feeling a little amused but also bothered. Certainly, she had prepared to spend a day or three stringing him along and watching his cutesy hero act fall apart, but her sleep was not something she wished to sacrifice over one blue hedgehog and the mind games she would play on him. Another sigh escaped her lips. “ _ I better do something about him... _ ” she decided.

Without another moment spared for the hedgehog's apparent search for the bat, she flew out of her tree, while still in her sleepwear, and landed where the hedgehog was speeding toward next—positioning herself in his immediate vision.

Promptly, Sonic screeched to a halt. “Oh! Hey, Rouge! I didn't expect to see you up so early,” he said, puzzling her, “I was actually just about to finish an errand or two here, could ya give me a minute or two before we get goin’?” This was a little less insufferable to Rouge than if he was actually waking her up by speeding everywhere looking for her, but she wouldn't let him off the hook so easily—instead, plotting to make today a little less pleasant for him.

Only a few seconds later did Sonic seem to notice the circles under her eyes, as his face crumbled in guilt. “... I woke you up, didn't I?” asked Sonic, grinning sheepishly. Wearing nothing but a humorless, contempt-filled smile on her naked face, Rouge nodded. “Awwh geesh, I'm sorry about that. I swear, I'll make it up to you – we can do whatever you want for the rest of our day, okay?”

“That's okay, Sonic,” Rouge assured the guilt-ridden hedgehog, not wanting to spend any more time thinking about the whole thing. Stifling a yawn, she added, “just meet me back here – you'll see me when I'm ready.” That seemed to do the trick, as he proceeded to nod, made a peace sign, and then zoomed off to take care of whatever errands he had to get to before spending time with her. It made her feel weird in her stomach, to imagine him devoting all that time simply to helping others, so she decided not to linger for too long before their time together.

Sneakily as she could muster for such an early morning, she flew back to her tree when she was sure no one was looking – reaching the highest branch that was connected to the hollowed-out hole, where she kept her beauty products. She grabbed her mirror, and proceeded to apply a little less than she usually did—having lost some rest and not wanting to spend the energy to do her entire routine for now. If the hedgehog had a problem, her game would merely end sooner than expected, and she would move on to the next distraction.

After applying the makeup, she moved on to picking out her outfit. Strangely, Sonic hadn't made any remark about her sleepwear when she appeared before him in it, though she was certain any other guy would  _ die _ to see her in such an exposed state – the hedgehog's eyes never strayed from her eyes. Frankly, it was almost  _ insulting, _ so she made a point to pick out something  _ a little _ flashy, while not straying too far from the casual wear she would be expected to wear for the casual outing. It ended up being an eye-catching all-black get-up, deceptively plain on the surface but subtly captivating.

Proud enough of what she had done with her appearance, she descended back down to the branch she had previously hung from, peeking out and seeing the hedgehog had finished his errands and was now waiting around for her. She smirked, mischievously, as inspiration for the first game she would play on the hedgehog struck her. She could have flown out right then to meet him, but instead she decided to give him a little while longer to wait for her. She had noticed the way he would incessantly tap his foot in impatience before, and she relished in seeing him suffer if only in this seemingly-minor way.

Unsurprisingly, he did squirm a bit from the delay. His ear twitched after a minute or two, and the sound of his sneaker tapping on the concrete of the sidewalk was quite the music to Rouge's ears. When at last the sun had risen up enough to where it didn't have that early-morning shine that made it so hard to see for the bat, she decided she'd had enough fun with that. After preparing her wings for her 'flight,' she emerged once more from her tree—her mood lightened slightly by the display—and glided down to meet up with the hedgehog.

His back was turned when she flew in, eliciting her to poke the hedgehog's shoulder to get his attention. “Hey, you haven't forgotten about our deal, have you~?” Rouge asked, as though she had been waiting for him _. _

Turning quickly to face her, Sonic's trademark smile grew once more as he exclaimed, “Oh, hey again! Not at all!” Not even a sign of resentment for her taking so long, she noticed. “Sorry I kept you for a minute,” Sonic apologized, “'you ready to start our day?”  _ He sure has a way of putting it casually, _ Rouge thought to herself, noting that most people she had suggested anything remotely similar to had made a big deal out of it and piled on a bunch of expectations and a label to go with it – a  _ 'date _ .' This felt like a nice change of pace.

Before long, she nodded and motioned for the hedgehog to lead the way, asking, “So, what do you have in mind, big blue?”

In contrast to the day before, Sonic's focus had shifted. He had previously come to her for Shadow's whereabouts, but today his mind was squarely on the bat, as he quickly replied, “I had a few ideas, actually.”  _ Intriguing, _ Rouge thought, listening on to what Sonic had come up with as they walked the streets of Westopolis. “We could go out some place to eat, we could go on a tour of the museum in town, or we could watch a movie,” the emerald-eyed hedgehog suggested, “what sounds good to you? I’m up for whatever you wanna do and all.”

She caught herself gazing into those emerald eyes once more. She knew it would be hard to mess with him when she looked through the sparkling windows into the hedgehog's soul, that it would be a little less fun to watch the delight in his gaze fade through the day... but only a little. Lifting her left index finger, she placed it on the tip of her right index finger, starting, “I'm not in the mood to smell chili dog breath,” counting the second with her middle finger, she continued, “really, me going on a tour of a place full of rare one-of-a-kind items? That sounds like a treat, to me, but I'm not sure  _ you _ wouldn't mind it,” counting off the third with her ring finger, she finished, “and  _ what _ movie could  _ possibly _ be showing that we would  _ both _ want to watch?”

A quick thought or two speeding through his mind, Sonic offered, “Hey, you might be surprised what I'm into!”  _ Phrasing, big blue, _ she thought. Rouge remained skeptical, but the hedgehog was determined, asking, “C'mon, what kind of movies do you like to watch?”

“ _ What would be the last thing Sonic would want to watch?” _ she thought, though it would be difficult to come up with one, as she did indeed not know much about the hedgehog. She relied on what she knew and had seen of the hedgehog, then stated, “I like to watch.... Romance movies.” She watched his gaze, waiting to see his heart sink in real-time, only to find him keeping that irritatingly-adorable look on his face. “How does that sound to you, precious?” Rouge asked, with a curious smirk.

Plainly, Sonic answered, “I like 'em okay.” He continued to walk alongside her, not even stopping dead in his tracks in shock, which caught Rouge a little off-guard. “We can definitely go see one of those, if that sounds cool to you,” he said, intriguing the bat further.

Giving it another moment's thought, Rouge decided, “Sure, that sounds like a fun time~” The entertainment she could get out of seeing the hedgehog watch a 'lovey-dovey' flick was greater than anything she could've planned for the evening, so she would allow it. He simply  _ had _ to be bluffing about liking them, anyway, she reasoned. “Let's save that for later today—and  _ I _ get to pick,” she asserted, making the quills on the hedgehog's head bounce ever so slightly as he nodded. “For now, though...” a devilish grin crept onto the bat's expression, “... I was thinking we could just... go for a  _ walk. _ ”

And  _ there _ went that hedgehog's spirit.

Sure, he tried to hide it, but Rouge couldn't miss the hedgehog's dismay, his joy faltering. “... Huh, okay,” Sonic said, continuing to walk with her. The smile was still there—virtually unchanged—but something felt more-hollow to it, or, she wondered, was she just imagining that... “It's a different pace from what I'm used to, I guess, but it ain't the worst,” Sonic remarked, before flashing that smirk once more.

Yet another attempt at souring the hedgehog's sunny mood thwarted, Rouge cursed her sorry luck. Usually she was so much better at getting on the nerves of men, but Sonic was proving to be a frustratingly hard 'cookie' to crumble. “Does anything ever get you down, big blue?” Rouge asked, accidentally voicing the thought that had been pestering her as they began to make their way down the sidewalk, in an unexpected show of honesty on her part.

Right then, those emerald eyes blinked into meeting hers. “Not a lot—but when a friend is in trouble, that puts me off,” Sonic answered, wholesome enough to make the bat roll her teal eyes. Noticing her eye-roll, the hedgehog chuckled, “Okay, well, I also don't like the word 'slow,' is that any better?” It sounded like a joke, but it was so ridiculous she couldn't help but wonder if it really was true. She let out a soft, subdued giggle.

“Okay, okay,” Sonic continued, “I also don't like tears... I guess that's why I help people - I like to see people smile!” Sonic formed a goofy smile of his own after finishing the thought, and it was so cheesy and unabashed that the bat couldn't bring herself to be completely skeptical of the honesty of his words. She made a little smile of her own, which appeared to elicit giggles from the hedgehog.

… Not quite the reaction she thought she would get. “What, is there something wrong with my smile?” remarked Rouge, nearly offended.

It was as though she had asked if he liked _long_ _division,_ she thought, as he replied, “No, no, not at all, not even a little!” The exuberant spiny guy then proceeded to affirm, “Your smile is _so_ cool, you're real good at smiling, I'm a fan... I chuckled because, it was really uh...” Sonic's voice trailed off, faltering just before he could explain why he had chuckled

“ _ Ah yes, _ ” Rouge fiendishly thought to herself, “ _ weakness. _ ” Now was her chance, she knew, before pressing the hedgehog, “It was really... what? Come on, Sonic,  _ bat got your tongue? _ ” This was just what the bat had been hoping for, as she watched the hedgehog's 'cool' demeanor crumble with each drop of sweat from his temple.

Even so, the hedgehog's refusal to respond relented quickly enough. “... Because it was really... really...  _ cute, _ okay?” the blue hedgehog admitted, turning a little red just from saying so. “There. Are you happy now that you've made me use the  _ C-word? _ ” Truth be told, her grin could tell him all he needed to know about her happiness, but she nodded nonetheless.

“So we’ve found yet another thing you don’t like, then,” Rouge remarked.

“You're  _ so _ mean,” he chuckled – a pathetic joke, as she could tell he was enjoying the teasing perhaps as much as she was.

So really it turned out fine and he wasn't feeling very upset or embarrassed. “ _ Damn, _ ” she cursed to herself. They had spent minutes having an ordinary conversation and the blue blur's spirit remained utterly... fine. Usually by now another man would have been the slightest bit  _ grumpy, _ but something about the whole situation—no matter how much she tried to spoil it for him—seemed to put Sonic in a good mood. “ _ At least I had that walking idea, _ ” she attempted to console herself.

“Hey,” Sonic said, grabbing her attention once more, “not that I'm not having  _ the time of my life _ on this walk,” Sonic sarcastically started, affirming what a great idea it was for Rouge to suggest it, “but I need to get to the gift shop and pick something up – y'think we could make a stop there?” Rouge gave a nod without giving it much more thought, and they made their way to the store.

When they entered, the bat observed the plainness of it all. She had certainly been in more glamorous stores, but it seemed less out of financial necessity than it was out of lack of taste in design.

_ Truly _ the mark of an evil establishment, Rouge thought to herself.

Nevertheless, she hadn't the slightest clue what Sonic would want from such a dull place, until she caught a jewelry section from the corner of her peripheral vision. Sonic passed it by without a second thought, but Rouge seemed to be magnetically-drawn to it, gliding slowly towards it in awe. They weren't as fancy as some of the jewelry she had taken before, but there was an emerald necklace that was all but literally  _ begging _ her to liberate it from the stuffy store.

She looked over to where Sonic had gone off to, finding him conversing in the checkout line with a woman while holding what appeared to be a set of stickers. He seemed to be having a good time before, in the blink of Rouge's teal eye, she witnessed the woman slapping Sonic hard across the face. “ _ Oof. _ Tough luck, big blue...” she giggled to herself discreetly, as the hedgehog attempted to pay for the sticker set shortly after as if nothing had happened, rubbing something out of view off of his cheek with the back of his gloved hand. Quickly, as usual for the hedgehog, he made his way over to the bat to check on her, leading her to once again bring her focus over to the jewels on display.

“Hey, whatcha lookin' at?” Sonic asked, still feeling the red spot on his cheek that stung from the slap. When Rouge looked back and got her first close-up look at the hedgehog since she witnessed the slap, she gasped in amusement. Sonic sighed, embarrassedly, “I know, I know, I had a fly on my cheek, someone tried to swat it, it's not that big of a deal.” It was, in fact, a  _ very _ big deal for the bat.

Quite skeptically, Rouge smirked, “ _ Sure, _ it was a  _ fly, _ ” which she could tell got under the hedgehog's skin, as the cheesy smirk on his face crumbled ever so slightly. Instead of answering the previous question, she posed a question of her own to the hedgehog. “Say, handsome, you wouldn't be able to race me out of here before they could detect that anything was stolen, would you?” questioned Rouge.

Laughing at the mere idea of him being incapable of performing such a feet, Sonic boasted, “ _ Oh, _ you've  _ gotta _ be joking – I could go so fast, no one would even know we left! One micro-second, Sonic and Rouge are  _ in _ the building, and the next they've  _ completely vanished! _ That's what it'd make people say, you can bet on that.” He confidently winked at her, before promptly adding, “... Uh, but, y'know, I  _ wouldn't _ because... that'd be stealing.”

It elicited a gaze from the bat that was dripping in disbelief, as she then performatively turned her head away from him and pointed her nose upward, her eyes closed while she stated, “I don't believe you  _ could, _ big blue.” She let one eye open curiously, to witness the challenged and determined look on the hedgehog's face. “Unless you'd like to prove me wrong...?” Rouge offered.

The hedgehog only had two words for the bat. “You're on,” he said, in a hushed tone. He allowed her to pick the emerald necklace, making sure to stand between her and the cashier's line of sight, before wrapping an arm around her side and zooming them out of the store quicker than the human eye. Not one footstep was heard, not a gust of wind was felt, and not even the slightest hint of a blue blur could be found - it was the perfect crime.

Without making a sound, the two waited to hear sirens going off... to no avail. Not one person had noticed the two had left—or, more importantly, the absence of the emerald necklace. Proudly, Sonic unwrapped his arm from around the bat's side and gave her a bow for his performance. “Well, good-looking, I've got to hand it to you – you  _ really _ proved me wrong,” Rouge said with a satisfied smile, as she proceeded to put the emerald necklace on, to the hedgehog's confusion.

Gazing back up at her, he saw that she had in fact begun to leave the gift shop entirely. “... So,” Sonic began, as the distance between the two grew further, “now we put it back, right?” Rouge walked along the sidewalk, adorned with the emerald necklace, and proceeded to completely ignore Sonic's nervous words. Sonic's face fell when he realized what had just happened. “Ohh... You're killin' me, Rouge...” he sighed, with a tired smile.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rouge continues to have the one thing she didn't account for in her plot to ruin Sonic's day - fun! But when the grand finale of their first day comes sooner than expected, a romance flick to bore the ages, will Rouge have the heart to put Sonic through that after all the fun they've had?

Proudly, the bat passed by countless westopolitans, who all marveled at her stunning emerald necklace that looked as though it was made for her. Little details such as “ _ it wasn't lawfully purchased _ ” were perfectly irrelevant to the blissfully-ignorant public—for a certain heroic hedgehog who had witnessed the crime, however, that was not the case. Curious when Sonic didn't rejoin her momentarily, she looked behind herself, only to find that he had left the sidewalk and disappeared from her sight since she had left the bland gift shop. “ _ Did I scare him off already? _ ” Rouge thought to herself, “ _ Oh well, it was worth it. I knew that precious act couldn't last forever, anyway... _ ”

With another distraction spent, the bat began to wonder what exactly she would be doing for the next few days before her next mission assignment... that is, until she glanced beside her and found the blue hedgehog walking alongside her again. “Y-you!” Rouge gasped, startled by his sudden reappearance. “Who do you think you are, sneaking up on a lady like that? Shame on you!” she scolded. Her investment in the game had dissolved to the point she couldn't  _ quite _ contain her frustration.

“I'm sorry, I'm sorry,” said Sonic, smiling nervously with his hands up, “I would've been with you sooner but I had to go back into the gift shop to pay for the necklace we stole,” The hedgehog assured her, which raised even more questions than she had before. “I mean, I didn't  _ mean _ to steal it, you tricked me, but that's beside the point – my point is I was busy paying for that necklace you've got on, and I'm sorry I took as long as I did,” the hedgehog rambled out apologetically.

Still, she had to admit, she was... intrigued, by this development.

“Sonic... did you just  _ buy _ me jewelry?” she inquired, a smirk growing on her face. That was when the blue hedgehog's eyes widened and his face flushed. The game was  _ on _ again.

“U-uh, well—I mean technically, sure, I kinda  _ had _ to.” he awkwardly admitted, his gaze frantically shifting from object to object, not daring to meet the curious bat's eyes.

“No you didn't, you could have just taken the necklace back from me – you just wanted to buy me a gift,” she 'accused' him as she placed her finger on his chest, her impeccable logic stunning Sonic into silence without a word to say in his 'defense.' “What do you think we're doing here, hm? Having a  _ date? _ ” giggled Rouge. She didn't even necessarily believe that was his intention, but she seized the opportunity to give the hedgehog a hard time after startling her so awfully.

For a moment, Sonic cryptically remained silent with his nose pointed to the ground, until his gaze shifted back up to the sky. “... You got me, I couldn't take it back from ya,” he simply said, with a smile, as his calm returned to him, “the way you looked at that necklace, I couldn't help myself. You're my friend after all, ain't ya?” Sonic's emerald gaze at last met hers once again.

“ _ This… this motherfucker... _ ” Rouge thought to herself, on the cusp of  _ outrage _ at how  _ charming _ he could be. She wasn’t about to fall for it, but this player had  _ game, _ she had to admit.

“‘Friend’ is pushing it a little bit - we’re more like acquaintances, which is why we’re here, isn’t it?” she countered.

“Right, right, I’m getting ahead of myself,” Sonic laughed and nodded as they resumed their walk. “If it’s all the same to you, though, I think you’re pretty rad and I’m glad I could get that necklace for ya.”

“Why _ , Big Blue, _ ” Rouge smiled and rolled her eyes, “I feel the same way - I  _ am _ ‘pretty rad’ and I’m  _ glad _ you got that necklace for me too.” That line earned her another laugh from the blue hedgehog, and if they had gone out for lunch beforehand she could have blamed that fluttering feeling in her chest upon hearing that laugh again on whatever they would have eaten. Probably chili dogs.  _ Yuck. _

In spite of herself, she had to admit that it was turning out to be an uncharacteristically beautiful day for Westopolis. The breeze was cool and not impudent, the ambient song of the city’s populace—traffic, chatter and all—was rather pleasant, and… it was pretty nice to have someone beside her, rather than going it alone for as long as she wasn’t assigned another mission by G.U.N.

“So,” Sonic began, “do you usually go for walks on days like this? Or are you going out of your way just to keep me  _ excited? _ ”

“ _ Ooh, _ getting a little sarcastic there, are we? I thought  _ I _ was supposed to be getting to know  _ you, _ here,” smirked Rouge, who didn’t actually care too badly about the pretense of this little game as she did about the game itself. “And no, I’m usually off doing  _ fiendish _ things like making an obscenely-wealthy old man slightly less obscenely-wealthy. I figured you didn’t have the stomach for such activities, so I went with the next best thing.”

“Hey, let’s be fair, you and I  _ both _ know I’ve got my own history of busting into some old guy’s place and wrecking his stuff,” Sonic joked.

“I think you’ve got a point - you foiling the doctor’s schemes is _just_ _like_ me making off with stolen jewelry,” she added. This conversation was going in a _fun_ direction.

“I’m saving the world, you’re saving yourself from not having jewelry, same difference,” he chuckled, eliciting a giggle from the bat that surprised herself more than anyone else.

“Excuse me, where did Sonic go? Because I  _ can’t _ be speaking to the same hedgehog that dumped I don’t know how many rings into getting me a necklace instead of just letting me walk away with it for nothing,” claimed Rouge.

“Hey, no, that’s different,” big blue insisted, “I just happen to know the family that ran that gift shop. They’re great people, they treat their employees real well, and they deserve any rings I can afford to throw at ‘em… I just would’ve saved those rings for a video game, maybe half a dozen chili dogs, instead of spending them on a necklace, but! That’s me.”

So maybe he wasn’t as much of a stick-in-the-mud as she had assumed. She was still going to make him sit through a cheesy Romance flick, but he’d earned himself a little more credit from her, anyway.

“I guess I also go shopping here, from time to time,” Rouge admitted, allowing a little more information to be disclosed. “I like to look good so I can match my gorgeous gems, after all. Like this number I’ve got on,” she said, soliciting him to maybe  _ notice _ the outfit that was supposed to get him to ogle her  _ at least the normal amount, _ “it goes nicely with the necklace, don’t you think?”

“Oh totally!” Sonic exclaimed, “You really rock the combo, I gotta admit!” It was becoming increasingly obvious he  _ really _ wasn’t going to act like a  _ complete  _ slimeball no matter how much she pushed him.

Which was fine. He would find other ways to disappoint her, she was certain.

“What do  _ you _ get up to, when you’re not heroically saving children from burning buildings and untying helpless beauties from railroad tracks, anyway?”

“Hey, Knuckles has a  _ name, _ y’know,” Sonic chuckled, which got an outright belly laugh out of Rouge, because calling Knuckles a beauty was as funny as it was true, “and I dunno. I don’t really stick around one place for awhile, so I don’t really get into a routine very often.

“I guess I tend to just… check out the arcades, where I can find them. Hang out at a library and see if any books by local authors catch my eye… Go to a McDonald’s, leave in a huff when I learn  _ this _ one doesn’t serve chili dogs  _ either, _ stuff like that.”

Conversation went on swimmingly enough after that—an awkward moment where the subject of ‘swimming’ came up aside. Sonic seemed rather open and that openness managed to coax Rouge into being a  _ little _ less cagey than she might have planned on being, that day. Every now and then, there’d be a glimmer of something more in Sonic’s eyes, but it would vanish just as suddenly as it had appeared, leaving Rouge to wonder if it was ever there to begin with or if she had merely imagined it...

It may have been Sonic’s speedy disposition rubbing off on her, but they arrived at the theater much sooner than she had planned. It was to be the main event of the day, and she would have liked to have gone for at least an evening showing, but her other attempts to sour the hedgehog’s day were proving unfruitful. “ _It’s about_ _time I pulled out the big guns,”_ she decided. And hey - who was she to complain about extra time to go hunting for jewels in the night?

Who  _ was _ she indeed…

“Oh, hey, we’re here already! Wanna catch that movie now?” asked Sonic.

Against her hopes, Sonic had proven not only resilient in the face of her attempts to ruin his mood, but also… very  _ pleasant _ company. So much so that she was beginning to have second thoughts about making him sit through a movie even  _ she _ wasn’t interested in seeing, on the off-chance he would have an even worse time. It had gotten a lot harder to care about him waking her up too early, as the day went on.

“... Big blue,” Rouge started, uncertainty in her voice, “are you  _ sure _ you’re fine with watching a cheesy romantic film with me?”

“It’s what we agreed to, isn’t it?” asked the hedgehog, matter-of-factly. “Don’t tell me you’re gettin’  _ cold feet _ on me,” he smirked.

“Absolutely  _ not, _ ” lied the bat. “I just… you know, maybe I’m not in the mood for it after all…” It was then she happened to glance up at the marquee, only to discover it boldly advertising that the critically-panned  _ ‘Love Dawn’ _ was now playing.

“ _ Sonic wouldn’t speak to me again if I took him to that, _ ” she thought… “ _ But it would be so FUN to watch him speed right out of the theater faster than if there was a chili dog-eating contest happening outside, _ ” her second thought chimed in. The devil on her shoulder was making a compelling case, and she had to decide then before the moment passed.

“... Forget what I said, let’s head inside,” Rouge stated, eliciting a shrug from Sonic as they walked in.

The place wasn’t a ghost town, but it wasn’t  _ too _ packed either. What immediately jumped out at Rouge was the line of what could only be described as ‘dudebros’ chuckling amongst themselves as they waited for a clearly-uncomfortable teenage girl to finish purchasing her ticket for ‘ _ Love Dawn. _ ’ When she hastily retreated into the lobby, the main bro at the front asked for five more tickets for the same film.

“Is that the one we’re going to see?” Sonic asked.

“That’s the plan, big blue…” Rouge sighed, hoping they could find a row of seats  _ very far _ from the bros. She wanted to introduce Sonic to the box-office bomb of the decade, not have their ears assaulted with the sound of hooting and hollering  _ dudebrothers. _

Without further ado, Rouge walked up to the ticket seller and said the words that would be engraved on the tombstone for the possibility of any friendship she could have had with the blue hedgehog,

“Two tickets for Love Dawn, please.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Annnnd that's a brand new chapter! Fun fact, I started work on this chapter TWO years ago and only this month got around to finishing it! I'm the worst! x'D (Just kidding I'm really wonderful and I'm trying my best)
> 
> Suffice it to say, this chapter takes place in a world a little bit like ours, except we aren't in a pandemic during it! So just so y'all know, Rouge and Sonic are NOT shirking social distancing guidelines, and they would encourage you to wear a mask and sanitize frequently if and when you go outside!
> 
> One more note that's pretty important for understanding this story - I write Sonic and Rouge like they're adults. This is because the ages in Sonic are fairly arbitrary, as long as you're dealing with characters that aren't given a legal guardian like Cream with her mother. Everyone else in Sonic is already written to be self-sufficient enough to get on with life as well as any adult could, so I just take that a step further by regarding them as adults. Thanks for reading and sticking with this story so far! I hope it was worth the wait, whether you waited a week or two years... ;w;


	4. The Fourth One What I've Published

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the screening of Love Dawn at last, but the already-miserable time Rouge was having goes from bad to worse when the dreaded dudebros make a scene! Things don't go according to plan, and Rouge begins to reconsider whether or not she's all that upset about it...

They were exactly 30 minutes into the movie. She knew they had to be, as that was what her phone told her the last six times she checked it - the twelve times before had shown they were 29 minutes in. Time was passing linearly as always, it only _felt_ like they were two and a half _eternities_ in.

She had assumed it wouldn’t be a peach for her to sit through, but she thought she would at least have the respite of being able to glance over at Sonic’s face contorting into so many expressions of anguish… “ _and yet,_ ” she thought, for what must have been the thirty-seventh time that same day, this was yet another plan that just _had_ to go up in smoke.

Instead of getting to watch the hedgehog quickly lose his resolve, big blue had the _utter nerve_ to seem to be enjoying himself! The normally-chatty Sonic had not made so much as a peep since the opening credits, and every time she glanced over at him he looked as if he was hanging on every overwrought line of the film.

Mercifully, they had at least managed to secure a pair of seats far, far away from the dreaded dudebrethren. The theater wasn’t very packed, though, so whenever one of them had a no doubt _insightful_ bit of commentary, she would only _just_ be able to not make out _exactly_ what had been said. It was for the best.

Whenever she did bring her focus back to the film, it wasn’t that the film was at all offensive. No, it was just _so_ by the numbers, so standard for a Hollywood production - a moody drifter has her world turned upside-down by an adventurous, handsome man that inadvertently teaches her a little about herself as she gets to know him.

At every scene, she was hoping, _begging_ the film to come to an abrupt ending. Leading lady says goodbye to the leading man at a restaurant? Great, cut, call it a 45-minute movie. Ending an argument with “and that’s final?” Iconic, quit while you’re ahead. She would have no such luck.

Eventually, there came a moment where the leading lady confronted her partner, declaring that he shouldn’t love her because she couldn’t love herself, and… in a show of rather explosive emotion that felt close to _moving,_ if it wasn’t appropriate for once, the man replied, “then let me love you enough for both of us. At least until you can love yourself.”

This was, according to the dudebros, the _funniest shit they had ever heard,_ as their insufferable-but-quiet chuckling erupted into raucous, obnoxious laughter. It wasn’t even the cheesiest part of the film yet, but they arbitrarily chose now to absolutely _lose it,_ and it was enough to snap big blue out of the trance the film had put him in.

In a turn of events that made the bat’s heart sink, however, it was then that that teen girl from earlier revealed herself, standing just a row ahead of the bros. “ _Oh honey…_ ” Rouge sighed under her breath, fearing what was to come next. She began to say something, but was drowned out initially by the laughter of the bros. So she spoke up.

“Hey, I-I’m trying to watch the movie!” the young girl asserted, her shaky voice betraying her efforts to seem strong. “You d-don’t have to like it, b-but can you p-please keep it down?”

“What, you LIKE this garbage?” one of the adult men guffawed at the teenager, “you should be thanking us for sparing you some of this _cringe_ dialogue!” The other men joined in, causing any resolve the girl had to crumble away in the face of the ridicule. It was an all too familiar sight to Rouge, and… all she could do was watch, as the moment brought her back to a time in her past that she had tried so hard to forget...

“Be back in a minute,” Sonic whispered over to Rouge in a cold tone, and, before Rouge could turn to look back over at him, he was gone. When she looked back at the scene taking place in front of the big screen, Sonic was tapping the shoulder of one of the men. When the man turned, his face lit up at the sight of the hero.

“Whoa, guys, look! It’s Sonic!” he said, his tone hushed once more, “Dude, we’re like your biggest—”

“I don’t wanna hear it,” Sonic interjected flatly, his emerald eyes somehow contained both a fiery intensity and the iciest contempt. “Either you and your pals get your act together and leave that girl alone, or I _make_ you.”

The main dudebro looked at Sonic, eyes widened, then back at the girl they had been harassing. “Uh, y-yeah, sure, dude - let’s go, guys,” he stammered, waving for his bros to come with him as he walked out. He was followed shortly by the others - one of which turned back to Sonic to say,

“You know, it was just a jok—”

“Didn’t ask. Get out,” Sonic sneered, causing the dudebrother to hurry his way out with the rest of them.

When the men had left, Rouge stood up from her seat and swiftly descended the stairs to check on the girl, tears staining her furry cheeks. She couldn’t have been older than 15, and her ears had flopped down in sorrow.

“Honey, are you okay?” the bat asked.

“It doesn’t matter…” she sobbed, hugging her shoulders anxiously.

“I promise it does,” Rouge responded, placing a hand gently on the dog girl’s hand that rested on her shoulder, keeping it there when her shoulders loosened. “This movie’s still got an hour left to it, doesn’t it? Would you mind if I sat with you through it?”

The teen looked into Rouge’s teal eyes with her own eyes, red from the copious amounts of crying that had occurred, and had uncertainty painted all over her face.

“You won’t make fun of me when I react to the movie, will you?” asked the teen, to which Rouge shook her head. “C-can I hold your hand during it? I-I get nervous during the tense parts, but the cup holders give me hand cramps if I try to grip them tightly...”

“Of course,” Rouge answered, “whatever you need, sister.” She flashed a reassuring smile at the girl, who returned it with a small, shy one of her own.

“D’you mind if I sit with you too?” a kind, warm voice chimed in from behind the dog girl. When the two turned to look, there stood Sonic, smiling brightly as if he hadn’t just threatened to throttle a group of men.

“Oh, oh my gosh, oh, my gosh,” the teenager nervously stammered, her face lighting up red for entirely different reasons from before, “I mean, if you, uh, I mean, you _can,_ uh…” Yes, big blue’s popularity stretched across the divide between dudebros and awkward teen fangirls. To Rouge’s relief, he seemed to be using that notoriety for good.

“What’s your name, hon?” Rouge asked, gently.

“S-Stephanie… M-my friends call me Stephy, though...” the girl answered.

“Nice to meet you, Stephy, I’m Sonic - Sonic the Hedgehog,” Sonic said, “and this is my friend Rouge.”

“N-nice to meet you, S-Sonic the Hedgehog… and Rouge…”

And so, Sonic and Rouge sat through the rest of the film with hands clenched tightly by Stephy. Her more-animated reactions to the movie were… different, from what Rouge thought she’d be getting, but they helped make the experience a lot more… _‘gripping,’_ so to speak.

When they left the theater, the sun was setting and it was looking like their first day out together would be coming to a close. Sonic made sure to take a selfie with Stephy before they said their goodbyes, while Rouge kindly declined the offer to join in. As they watched the dog girl walk off, tail wagging happily at the turn her day had taken, Rouge couldn’t help but think back on how much trouble she could have saved herself if she had just let the day happen as it would.

“So, how’d ya like Love Dawn?” Sonic asked, looking back at her.

“Oh… um…” she shifted her eyes from left to right, choosing her words carefully when she eventually answered, “it… had its moments... If I can let you in on a little secret, I didn’t exactly go in expecting _high art._ ”

“I thought you weren’t enjoying it that much,” the hedgehog said, with a sympathetic look on his face, “I hope it wasn’t _too_ bad for you. I know those jerks from earlier didn’t help the experience for me…”

“Actually, I think you confronting those two was my favorite part of the whole film,” remarked the bat, causing Sonic to chuckle embarrassedly. “How’d you like it, anyway? You seemed _captivated_ by it,” she asked.

“Oh, yeah… I really liked it,” Sonic admitted, sincerely, “I loved the bond that the guy and the gal developed, over the course of the film. The way each moment pushed and pulled them from each other, but every time they’d always come back together…” To hear the hedgehog go on about it was surreal, like learning they had somehow watched completely different films. What was it that he saw in that movie that she didn’t?

“And I uh… I saw a bit of Shadow in that leading gal, actually…”

“Really?” Rouge’s eyes widened, “I… honestly didn’t make that connection, but…” her mind drifted back to the memory of the leading lady, coldly warning her partner not to get close to her, and how that reminded her of the walls that Shadow had put up around himself. “… I can see it.”

Sonic took a deep breath as a silence grew between them.

“Can you tell me if he’s been doing okay, lately?” asked the blue blur.

“He’s… been doing better, lately,” the thief replied, “I think, with Omega and I, he’s got people he can trust… but I think he needs you too.” Sonic looked at her with a little shock in his eyes, after that last sentence, but only nodded quietly when she returned his gaze. _It’s getting late,_ that familiar voice in her head reminded her.

Rouge wondered for a moment if she really wanted to let it end yet… but relented. “I think that’s enough for today. You got any plans for the rest of your night, by the by?” asked the bat.

“Well…” the hedgehog turned to look back at the setting sun, “I was actually thinking of heading off someplace else, about now… But I mean, if you’re staying here, I gotta stick around til you gimme the deets on Shadow, don’t I?” remarked Sonic.

“Oh, right, _those details..._ ” Rouge said out loud, before catching herself and seeing Sonic’s grin widen. All she could do was laugh, genuinely and happily, with the hedgehog joining in soon after. Before she could realize it, the words escaped her lips, “I can come along wherever you want to go, big blue, don’t worry.”

“Really?” Sonic asked, “You mean it?”

Caught off guard, Rouge questioned herself. Was she really about to leave the direction of what could be her next few _weeks_ to the whims of big blue? Throughout the time they had spent together, there _was_ always something nagging at her in the back of her mind.

She looked back at Sonic, into those emerald eyes of his that had repeatedly _almost_ contradicted what front the hedgehog put forward _all day,_ wondering what it was that was so necessary to keep secret…

“ _I have to know,_ ” she decided, then nodded in the affirmative to Sonic’s question shortly after.

Those same eyes that intrigued her so _lit up_ once the hedgehog received her answer. “Meetcha same time, same place tomorrow?”

“ _Maybe_ a little later than when we started today, hon,” she stated, before sighing and stretching out her wings. The day had felt a lot longer than it was in reality, and she _needed_ a nap before she could face the rest of it. “Ahh… Let’s have more fun, next date, shall we?”

Sonic laughed, “What, like this one wasn’t already ridiculously fun?” Rouge shook her head and flew off, waving back at the hedgehog who watched on with that confident smile of his...

“A 'date,' huh?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there's a second new chapter published in as many weeks! Yay! Go me! This IS the last one I had ready in advance, though, so please be understanding if it takes longer for me to get another chapter out. :'( 
> 
> In the first drafts for this and the past two chapters, it was a lot less fun. I've been doing my best to rewrite where I can so I don't stray far from the tone I want to keep with this story, and... I think I did pretty good! In particular, I liked illustrating the different kinds of Sonic fans - and how Sonic is more inclined to stand up for his more-vulnerable fans.
> 
> Lastly, a big thank you to Babyuknow13 for unintentionally reminding me to write a part of the chapter I FORGOT TO WRITE before I read the comment you sent. XD


End file.
